Research Matters

Visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, is an insidious disease that affects thousands of people every year. This illness can be fatal, if not diagnosed and treated on time. However, despite best efforts, India still lags behind in eliminating this disease completely. A recent study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases has investigated the factors that lead to the delayed diagnosis and treatment of kala-azar.

In a country that predominantly depends on rain for irrigation, loss of crops due to disruptive weather continues to be a source of distress to farmers, and approaches to make crops tolerant to the vagaries of weather are necessary. In a recent study, researchers have shown that, by modifying particular genes, rice plants can be kept alive through periods of acute salinity in their water supply. 

A specimen of a cuckoo bee  lay in a museum in Austria for decades before Dr Petr Bugosch took a look at it and described it as a new species, Epeolus ladakhensis. 

A team of researchers from the ATREE, Bengaluru, Concordia University, Canada, Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Canada, and Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, Kerala, have traced the biogeographical origins of Piper genus in India.

Researchers from the Zoological Survey of India describe a new species of bee Melitta indica from Uttarakhand, India

A first-of-its-kind study details diversity and distribution of bumblebees in the Eastern Himalayas. 

Researchers from Singapore, Thailand and the USA, have created an antidiabetic medicine using extracts from Withania coagulans, commonly known as the Indian Rennet or paneer dodi.

Roopkund is a small Himalayan glacial lake in Uttarakhand, situated at an altitude of about 16,470 feet. With its breathtaking scenery, it is a popular trekking destination. However, there is more to this mysterious lake—hundreds of ancient human skeletons lie scattered here, earning it the name ‘skeletons lake’. In a recently published decade-long study, an international team of researchers seem to have traced the origins of these puzzling skeletons.

About 6,000 years ago, an unfortunate dog suffered from a relatively rare form of cancer. Since then, unlike any other cancer, its cancer cells were swiftly transmitted from one dog to another. Today, this age-old ailment has a name—Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour or CTVT.  In a  recent study, they traced the history of CTVT to Asia, and in the process, helped understand the evolution of cancer in the long term.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) suggest that better conductivity of oil may help water droplets come together. Their findings may impact the design of electric field-based oil dehydrators.